SNAP!
by muggleborn444
Summary: Lily becomes the unelected photographer of the Marauders & Co.'s last year...scrapbooking tells all.
1. Chapter 1

SNAP! Chapter 1: _The Golden Days_

**AN: I (CA) agree that this is a bit rough and choppy. It was meant to be a bunch of short scenes, as individual chapters, but some of them are shorter than others… and it didn't work out like that. Don't flame, this was mainly written for fun… and I **_**am**_** avoiding helping CC with Five Date Rule. *Hehe***

**There is a second chapter as well. Reading is nice, but reviews are love.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own anything HP related. Sadly. But on the bright side, we own the plot of **_**this**_** story. Wow. If our stuff was on one side of a scale, and JKR's was on the other, we'd be about 3000 feet in the air and she'd be at the center of the earth. Wow.**

"Lily, what the bloody hell is that peace of junk?" Lily's friend Alice Conroy asked.

"It's a muggle device called a camera. A Polaroid, I believe. It takes pictures, and with the spell I put on it, they move too. I am going to be the unofficial documenter of our last year at Hogwarts."

BANG! The door to the compartment flew open. As the train made a sharp turn, the four Marauders standing in the doorway went flying into a heap on the floor as the door snapped shut behind them.

"Ow! Wormtail, that's my hand..."

"Geez, Moony, your killing my arm!"

"Padfoot! Get your butt off of my face!!!"

"Prongs that was my nose, you wanker!" The girls laughed as the boys struggled to detangle themselves. Suddenly the third girl in the compartment, Marlene McKinnon, giggled to Lily, "Photo Op Numero Uno..."

"The Marauders in the heap of no return!" Lily agreed. SNAP!

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At breakfast the next day the Marauders, (James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew) sauntered (or in Peter's case, tripped) over to where the girls sat laughing over something.

"OY! EVANS! What are you laughing at?" Sirius shouted before worming his way in between Alice and Lily.

"N-N-Nothing..." Lily burst into laughter again. James suddenly plopped down on her other side and grabbed the camera out of her hands to start fiddling with it. "What's this then? Ooooo! Is it one of those kamar-has? We learned about these in Muggle Stud..." SNAP! James' shocked face caused the group to burst into laughter again, as Lily snatched for the photo coming out of the camera. "It's a camera James... It takes pictures."

The girls laughed and walked out to their first class.

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"A little to the left... No, my left, stupid!" Lily shouted as Sirius went the wrong way again. "Okay now wait for it..." She climbed to the top of the people-pyramid that the girls and Marauders had made instead of doing their homework. She levitated the camera. SNAP!

"Glad that's over! Merlin, my shoulders hurt!" Sirius tried to stand up, forgetting that he was in the center bottom spot. With a shriek Lily toppled, the rest of the pyramid collapsing on her way down. Lying in a great big heap, they all laughed as they tried to figure out whose arm was whose. SNAP!

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"MR. POTTER! MR. BLACK! WHAT is the meaning of this?!" Professor McGonagall waved her arms around, gesturing towards the foam and bubbles filling up the corridor and Transfiguration classroom. Sirius and James had their hands stuffed in their pockets, and their heads hanging low. They were the perfect picture of remorse… Except for the fact that they were trying not to laugh at the bubble-covered professor. Sirius sported a foam turban, James had a mustache and a goatee, and the Head of Gryffindor House didn't look too much better. All of the seventh year Slytherins were huddled in a corner, muttering to themselves, while the Gryffindors pranced around laughing. Lily aimed for the guilty party and eccentric professor. SNAP!

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"I can't believe you guys got US in detention for something we didn't even DO!" Lily complained, scrubbing another trophy, while kneeling in-between Remus and Alice, with the other Marauders and Marlene also working nearby.

CRASH! They all looked over to see a mortified Peter standing in front of a destroyed trophy case.

"Forgot that was the bad shelf, eh Wormtail?" Sirius asked, laughing.

The boys walked over to try and fix it, with the girls following closely behind.

After five minutes filled with many unsuccessful tries at fixing the shelves, and the girls in stitches from laughing so hard, Alice finally grinned and wheezed, "How many Marauders does it take to fix a broken shelf?" This set the girls off again.

"Oh come off it! We are trying as hard as we can..." CRASH! The shelf fell again, effectively ruining James's half-hearted defense of their work and causing the girls to laugh even harder. They tried propping it up with Wormtail's back... and groaned as they watched it fall again. SNAP!

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"Give me back my camera you prick! YOU BERK! YOU... NO, NOT IN A MINUTE! NOW!!!" Lily panted as she chased Sirius through the courtyard and out by the lake. She froze as she saw James, next to the beach tree, levitating Snape by his ankle. She forgot all about the camera until... SNAP!

"Last time EVER! I SWEAR!!!" James said, begging for forgiveness.

"We just needed one for the books," Sirius explained, passing over the picture and camera. "If you don't want it to happen again, then just use _it_."

Grumbling, Lily snatched up her things and muttered, "Hurry up or we'll be late to class."

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"Lils, pass the firewhisky!" Alice yelled, already half drunk. The three girls had warned their other two roommates, so Laurie Shacklebolt and Andrea Corrigan were gone. Marlene, completely wasted, was doing handstands. While Alice and Lily were jumping on the beds, Alice fell and pulled her curtains down with her. SNAP!

The door burst open. "Having a party without inviting ME... US?!" Sirius stood in the doorway pretending to frown. "I'm hurt. Now, where is the firewhisky?" Laughing, Alice finally rolled out from her curtains with several bottles. Lily levitated the camera as they clinked bottles in the destroyed dorm room. SNAP!

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"Too bad mate. I double Marauder dared you." Sirius said shrugging off James's protests.

"She'll just say no like she always does!"

"Maybe you should be more romantic. " Remus said as the boys lay in a circle under 'their' beech tree by the edge of the lake. Peter flipped over onto his stomach.

"Yeah try flowers and chocolates. And go down on one knee!"

"Fine." James grumbled. They talked about a bunch of things for a while before they looked over to see Lily walking towards them. SNAP!

"Needed a picture of 'your' tree," she said.

Later, in the common room, James walked over to Lily and bent down onto one knee, pulling out the flowers and chocolate. "Lily, will you go out with me?" He held his breath.

"I'd love to!" she answered, grinning. James was about to stand up beaming when Marlene pushed him back down, pulling out the camera.

"Oh no, you don't! We need a picture of the proposal stance!" SNAP!

Impatient, James leapt up as soon as the picture was done, and swept Lily into a kiss. The common room erupted into clapping, wolf whistling, "awwwws", and even a few "Finally"s from the older students, who had waited about three years for this moment. SNAP!

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A few months later, the group was sitting under the tree; the scrapbook materials lay out in front of them.

"I really don't want to. This is stupid. Pointless. I have final exams to study for, final pranks to pull, worries about my future to come up with!" The rest of the students stared at Sirius. "What? I know what studying is... it's when you look cross-eyed at a book for long hours to try and get your brain to hurt... because apparently that helps your brain get in shape for exams...".

The others all laughed and he scowled. "Fine. I'll paste stupid-looking pictures of me in a book. Jeez...you guys could have waited to let me style my hair before some of these..."

Lily stealthily levitated the camera away. Sirius continued, "It always looks like this in these pictures." He mussed up his hair. SNAP! "GIVE ME THAT CAMERA, WOMAN!!!" Sirius chased Lily around trying to reach for the camera.

For the rest of the afternoon the seven students pasted, cut, and designed.

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The last day of school was a joyous yet tear-filled event. The girls had made sure to wear waterproof mascara and the boys had practiced being macho enough not to cry. Still, this had been their homes away from home, or in some cases _really_ their home, for seven years. The students around them they had watched grow up, seen them laugh, seen them cry, seen them wasted, and now, they might never see each other again. After the professors had each said a little something, and Dumbledore had given his final speech to the group of seventh years, they all went into the courtyard to mill around. Masked under the sound of noisy tears, cries of farewell, promises to keep in touch, and addresses being exchanged, Lily managed to catch the eye of her boyfriend, James Potter. Waving him and the four other Marauders over, she and the girls joined them in walking down to the beech tree by the lake. Flopping down, the boys loosened their ties and ruffled their hair, as the girls shook out _their_ hair and took off their heels. For a moment they sat in silence, gazing out over the grounds, at the castle, at all of their teachers and classmates hugging each other a while away, and then back to the grounds. "Merlin, I'll miss this place." Sirius muttered, suddenly passionate. "This is where I grew up." The others slowly turned their faces to him, showing their skeptical looks.

"With that remark, we had better look at this old thing." Lily summoned the scrapbook. They all gathered in a circle around it, laughing and fooling around. From over by the castle, Professor Dumbledore faced them with a small smile. He knew that not many of them, if any, would survive this war. He shook his head to clear the horrible thought. And, pulling an ancient something from his pocket, he aimed at the laughing group of closest friends, and... SNAP!

**A/N: Reviews???? Another chapter is waiting….**


	2. Chapter 2: War Torn

SNAP! Chapter 2: _War Torn_

**AN: Not as much talking in this one. It's a bit more solemn. Please don't flame, I did my best to try and not make anything to severe or awkward. Review please! I am begging you. If you review I will update Five Date Rule… probably… **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, the scale hasn't moved yet. Not that anyone really expected it to…**

"You many kiss the bride!" James swept Lily into a kiss as Alice pulled out a camera and snapped a picture. Grinning at her, the newlyweds made their way over. "Let's party!" Sirius shouted, pulling his girlfriend Marlene into a tight embrace. For the rest of the night the old school friends partied, drank, and laughed. They had all managed to keep in touch, though Peter had been drifting away a little of late. They had kept the tradition of always having a camera on them, and had continued to scrapbook their lives. There were pictures of Lily and James on dates, Marlene and Sirius on dates, Alice (and her fiancé, Frank Longbottom) on dates. There were pictures of engagement nights, and other important events. But they also had many silly pictures of drinking and dancing in bars and getting into full-on mischief (that bit was mostly Sirius' doing). All of them had joined the Order of the Phoenix, and they had plenty of pictures from there as well. And now, tonight, they would be pasting the last picture in their newest scrapbook.

"This is number… what?" Marlene drawled, a little drunk, as the group sat in a circle, surrounded by wedding gifts in Lily and James' new apartment, working on the scrapbook. "A billion-million-trillion-gajillian." Sirius slurred, the most drunk of them all. Giggling, Alice said, "Sirius, dear, I do not believe that _gajillian_ is a word." "IT IS TOO!" Sirius stood up. The way he looked with his hands on his hips and a drunken expression on his face was comical and they snapped a picture, then taking time to take one more of the whole group. Laughing, they put in the finishing touches to the book. Suddenly, they heard an owl tapping on the window. They all drew their wands. You couldn't be too careful these days. James took the letter from the bird, who promptly flew away. "It's from Dumbledore!" he said.

He opened it and there was a scrap of parchment that said, "Congratulations Potters, as well as all of your friends who I'm sure are there with you. I know you all have been making scrapbooks, and as your wedding gift, I have something to contribute. I hope you don't find this a little odd." The slanty signature read _'Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore'_. The group chuckled, shaking their heads at Dumbledore's mention of being odd. James pulled out the old photo and gasped. The others came over and took a look. It was the picture of them on the day of graduation down under the beech tree. Lily was sitting beside James, who was leaning on his elbows, legs out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. Lily rested her head on his chest, sitting likewise. Marlene was bickering happily with Sirius; they sat thigh-to-thigh, Indian style to James' left. Remus sat, smiling serenely, leaning against the beech tree; Peter was laughing from the shadows, making a goofy face, as Alice, on Lily's other side, giggled at them. The first scrapbook lay on the ground in the middle of the circle they made.

They looked up at each other. Though they were all smiling, they still felt a bit sad. What they would each give to go back to those happy carefree days, where war was just a threat and not a reality. Lily summoned their first book, and on the very last page pasted the picture, and added in script, "These were the days of the Marauders and the Three. James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Marlene McKinnon, Remus Lupin, Alice Conroy, and Peter Pettigrew. Long live the Golden Days." They all grinned down at it.

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A few years later, the group sat once again in a circle. This time, though, they all visibly seemed a few years older. The war was taking its toll. Carefree Sirius know looked like he didn't know how to laugh. Marlene was dead. She had been one of the first to fall in this horrid war. The funeral had been a sad affair. Sirius had cried for the first time in his life, and had been living with the Potters for a while now. Peter was rarely present. They had seen him maybe once in the past few months. Alice and her husband Frank, had their son, Neville, a happy, plump baby, with them. Lily and James sat with their own son, Harry, in their living room. Remus looked twice as old as the rest of them, as he had been away working with other werewolves as he had been told to do. But they were all looking forward to today. Today was the three-year anniversary of their graduation from Hogwarts. After snapping a photo for old times sake to finish off this latest scrapbook, Lily, named official scrapbook holder, summoned the chest that held the books. She opened it up, and pulled out the twenty or so books. They cracked open the first book and began to remember. At once the atmosphere lightened, and for a few moments at least, the danger looming over them was forgotten, as they reveled in the happiness of the good old days, and the fun times of the not-so-good days following them. There was only one moment of silence, and that was after the picture of Sirius proposing to Marlene a week before her death. They had all been tense to see his reaction to the picture. He surprised them by swinging his godson, Harry, into his arms and pointing at the picture said, "That, Harry, was the most beautiful woman in the world…besides your mother at least." Lily smiled wryly at him. "I was going to marry her, but the nasty Death Eaters took her away from me. But I won't let them take you away from me will I?" One-year-old Harry gazed up at him solemnly. Sirius laughed and tickled the boy, and the adults started flipping the pages again.

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It was October 31st. Lily and James were laughing in their living room, playing with their tiny son. Harry zoomed by on his broom, nearly knocking down a picture from the wall. James' Chaser-toned hand-eye coordination allowed him to catch the photo, and sit back on the sofa, examining it as his son flew around the house, his wife sitting next to him. Taken shortly before Marlene died, it was the last picture of the Marauders, the Three, and Frank happy before the true horrors of the war had hit. They were all standing arm in arm laughing at some long forgotten joke. Lily started to tear up. Marlene was dead, and Alice and her husband Frank had been tortured to the point of insanity for information. Now in St. Mungo's for the rest of their lives, their tiny little son had been shipped off to his grandmother's. Sirius, carefree trouble making Sirius, was now exactly what his name suggested. He had become so intense in fighting, for Marlene's memory, that he was one of the Order's best assets. He still dropped in regularly though, to play with his godson and talk with the Potters. He had his own apartment now, somewhere in Diagon Alley. Remus had moved from job to job to job, being rejected. He was spending most of his time with the werewolves, and it was taking a toll on their already thin, wan, serious friend. Peter no one had heard from since the night a year ago that the Potters had asked him to be Secret Keeper. Secretly, both James and Lily thought that Sirius would have been a better choice, but neither told the other. "Come along Harry dear, it's time for bed." Lily called to her son, who came whizzing in and James amused him, making colored sparks with his wand for a while. "Seriously now Harry, it's time for beddy-by." James scooped him up and handed him to Lily, wrapping his arms around his family. "I love you guys" he whispered, almost indecipherably. Then he tossed his wand to the couch and stood up and stretched, as Lily walked to the stairs. Suddenly, he heard the door bang open. Rushing into the hall, his heart almost stopped when he saw who was at the door. "Lily! Take Harry and run! I'll hold him off!" He gave one last, loving look to his wife and only child before turning around just in time to see a blinding flash of green light… and then the first of the Marauders to do so fell to the ground, dead. Voldemort stepped over and moved on to his next victims.

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BOOM!

The right side of the house blew up into the cool autumn air. As the dust settled, the only sound was of a baby crying, as torn pieces of photos came floating down between the ruins of the small house. The shelf that had held the chest of scrapbooks had exploded, sending wayward scraps of pictures everywhere. One picture swirled and twirled in the cool breeze and came to settle near a cracked frame. Looking up out of the photograph was the group of teenagers on their last day of school. And in the cracked frame it rested on smiled the same group (plus Frank) laughing as young adults.

The days of Lily and James Potter were over, but the days of their son Harry had just begun. Nearby, a beam in the house broke in half, seeming to poignantly finalize the events of the day.

SNAP!

**A/N: Ahhhhh! I'm ready to cry… that ALWAYS makes me sad. Cheer me up with reviews?? The pretty button is right there… \/ \/ \/ ******


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